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Thursday, May 07, 2009

Springfield, Delaware

Above: Marge (Sue Stoia) and Homer Simpson (Mike Behringer) at this morning's release of "The Simpsons" stamps in Montchanin.

It's an honor that could make even the notoriously cantankerous Mr. Burns crack a smile.

"The Simpsons," the satirical family from Springfield that never seems to age, became the first television show today to be honored with commemorative stamps from the U.S. Postal Service while still on the air.

In Montchanin, customers were greeted by Homer Simpson, played by Mike Behringer, officer in charge of the tiny post office nestled along the Brandywine River.

His face was hidden under a large, yellow plastic mask and he had even stuffed towels under his shirt to give Homer his obligatory beer belly.

A can of soda with a Duff beer label, Homer's favorite brand, sat on the outdoor display next to the stamps as music from "The Simpsons" played on a stereo.

Behringer, himself a "Simpsons" fan, couldn't help but smile when asked what he thought of the honor bestowed upon America's favorite, yet dysfunctional animated family.

"It couldn't have happened to a better family," he said. "They are so middle-class America."

Today's release at the Monchanin office was special because they offered a choice of five hand-stamped pictorial cancellation postmarks -- each one including an image of a member of the Simpsons family, which is in its 20th season on Fox, making it the longest-running comedy in TV history.

Stamp collector Bob Rohs of Wilmington was the first person at the Montchanin office in the morning.

It just happened to be the day Rohs was sending out the Brandywine Valley Stamp Club newsletter. Each outgoing newsletter received a "Simpsons" stamp and a corresponding hand-stamped cancellation dated May 7, 2009 -- a rarity that will undoubtedly catch the eyes of local stamp collectors.

"This is really unique," said Robert Rufe, president of the Brandywine Valley Stamp Club, who also stopped in to buy several packages of envelopes already affixed with "Simpsons" stamps and the cancellation postmark. "This is the only post office in Delaware doing a first-day-of-issue postmark. This is a highly collectible cancel."

The book of 20 stamps costs $8.80. And if that seems like a little more D'oh, er, dough than normal, that's because the stamps are in denominations of 44 cents. On Monday, the U.S. Postal Service officially raises the cost of a stamp to 44 cents from 42.

As with any commemorative release, there is some grumbling about whether the satirical animated show was worthy of the honor.

"There are people who will say, 'Gee, we used to honor people like [Abraham] Lincoln and [George] Washington and [Benjamin] Franklin and now we got 'The Simpsons'?" Rohs said. "There are letters to the editor every week in Linn's Stamp News [the largest weekly stamp news publication] that say we're really stepping down a little when we go to 'The Simpsons' and they don't say it quite as nicely as I just did. And then there are others who say, 'Get a life.'"

Or as Bart would say, "Don't have a cow, man."

Behringer points to the show's irreverence as its best selling point: "They poke fun at just about everything and everybody."

And that even goes for the U.S. Postal Service itself.

An episode that originally aired 10 years ago opened with Bart Simpson and his Springfield Elementary School class on a field trip to a U.S. Post Office.

During their trip, Krusty the Clown spots a poster of specialty stamps celebrating comedians. "Legends of comedy, my tuckus," Krusty says. "What has Fatty Arbuckle done that I haven't done?"

Alas, there is no Krusty stamp in the new collection, which features only the five actual members of Simpson family: Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie.

The honor of having a set of stamps dedicated to the show comes even though that same episode includes a politically incorrect joke directed at the Postal Service and its employees.

School bully Nelson Muntz asks the postmaster, "Have you ever gone on a killing spree?" The post office head laughs and answers, "No, no. The days of the gun-toting, disgruntled postman shooting up the place went out with the Macarena."

"The Simpsons" will not be the only television program to receive the honor of being commemorated on a stamp this year.

On August 11, a set entitled "Early Television Memories" will be released, honoring shows like "The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet," "Alfred Hitchcock Presents," "Howdy Doody," "The Honeymooners," "The Ed Sullivan Show" and "You Bet Your Life" among others.

At the front counter of the Montchanin post office, clerk Sue Stoia even got into the act with her best Marge Simpson impression, wearing a towering blue wig and a red necklace, along with her mandatory postal service uniform.

Customers laughed at the sight of her as they walked into the tight-knit office, which reminds you of another television program, "Cheers," because everyone seems to know your name.

At one point, a regular customer walked up to the counter and told Stoia that she hadn't seen her in a while.

Without missing a beat, Stoia dropped her voice to a raspy Marge-like grumble and said, "I've been growing some blue hair."